Road Rash
by TheGladElf
Summary: Mako manages to get himself severely injured while his wife is in the South Pole. Will he be able to hold on? Or is it time to to let go? Takes place approx. four years after the end of Book 4. Makorra AU.
1. Mako

Mako didn't remember much about the accident. It all happened so fast.

There had been a chase, of course, and then he remembered his bike sliding out from under him. He must have hit the ground hard, because everything burned. Everything hurt. The asphalt had torn away his skin like an over eager, high speed exfoliant.

There were flashes of memory then. Wailing sirens. Blurry faces hovering over him. Someone shouting, "He's alive." A trip in an ambulance. White walls. Healers leaning over him. Water like fire on his body. Trying to breathe. Blissful unconsciousness. And then all the pain starting over again. Over and over.

He wasn't allowed to die. He knew that. His wife would kill him. He had to hold on, give her the chance for good-bye if nothing else.

But Korra was in the South Pole. Even if someone had called the moment his body hit the pavement, he wasn't sure he could hold on that long. Their nearest spirit portal was still two days away.

So tired.

So much pain.

Couldn't it all just stop?

The healers must have feared the Avatar's wrath too, because they managed to string him along. Every time he woke, there was a burning weight on his chest. It was never very long before he was sent back into unconsciousness. Sometimes crashing. Sometimes spiraling. Sometimes simply blackness.

Finally, he woke and there she was, curled up in the chair next to him. Her fingers resting across the hand that wasn't covered in bandages.

Her head was propped on her fist, nodding as she dozed.

Even drooling, she was beautiful.

Mako tried to turn his hand over and capture hers. An edge of pain stopped him, but the tiny movement was enough to wake Korra, though.

She went from bleary to alert in just a second.

"Mako," she said, leaning towards him. "Hey, baby."

"Hey," he said. His voice sounded like a sandbender's.

Korra reached somewhere that he couldn't see. "Here."

A straw was pressed to his lips. Those at least did not hurt as the straw slipped between them and he sipped. The water was room temperature. And it was the best thing he'd ever tasted.

"Don't try to talk, okay?" Korra said. She switched hands so she could stroke her fingers through his hair.

His chest felt so heavy. Like someone was slowly stacking earthbending discs on it. Can't breathe, he tried to say. The words wouldn't come. Once again, his body betrayed him.

Korra's eyes went wide as she realized something was wrong.

"I need help in here," she called.

His vision faded out. When it came back, two nurses were grabbing Korra, pulling her away.

"The healers need room to work," one said.

"I am a healer," she said, fighting against the big-burly dudes. "Let me help." Her eyes, always so blue were starting to radiate their own light.

"Avatar Korra," one said.

"No, I need to tell him—he has—"

"Korra," he whispered. She froze, his vision dimmed, her glowing eyes the last things to fade.

When he came back, she was working with the healers.

"Stay with me, Mako," she said when she saw his eyes open. The roaring pain nearly drowned out her words. "Please. Please, stay with me." She kept talking, working. Most of her words washed over him, like her hands. He always knew which hands were hers. He felt himself fading.

He wanted to apologize.

"You are not dying on me," she said, grabbing his face and leaning close to his ear.

When he woke again, it was in a haze of painkillers. Korra was next to him, so much like before he thought maybe it had been a bad dream. There was…something. Something Korra had told him. Every time he was about to grasp it, his mind stuttered, too sluggish to chase the information for long. Whatever it was, he knew it was important enough to keep him hanging on.

Korra shift and stretched, eyes flicking to him.

"Hey there," she said when she saw he was awake. She bit her lip, offering a nervous smile. "How do you feel?"

"Okay."

"That's good," she said.

"Korra, what—" He had to stop to swallow a couple of times. "You said...What did you say? I can't—"

"Shh," she said, stroking her thumb across his bottom lip. It was rough against the dry, chapped surface. "Just that I love you. And I need you."

Korra got up, pushing aside his hospital gown, fingers skimming over his leg and hip. She made a face and there was the slosh of water. It ached, he realized just as blissful coolness washed over the pain.

"You really did a number on yourself," Korra said. Her voice was nearly neutral, maybe a little on the chipper side. "Broken hip, road rash everywhere, a concussion, broken ribs. We've been keeping you sedated for the last several days. It seemed to help."

"How long..."

"Six days since the accident," Korra said. "I've been here since the second day."

"But the South Pole…"

"I was already on my way home," Korra smiled at him, though her hands never faltered. Nothing wavered. So calm. So collected. "Good thing too," she said. "Looks like I can't leave you on your own for a few days, let alone the whole week."

"Payback," he joked. It wasn't too far from what he was really thinking: _Better me than you_. This wasn't the first close call. They both had experience being on Korra's side of the equation. Though, this was the first time since the incident with Zaheer that one of them was as close to death as Mako knew he had been.

"Good morning, Avatar Korra. Oh, look who's awake," the pleasant voice belonged to a healer. If there was such a thing as a voicebender, this man was one. He immediately put Mako at ease, even Korra's shoulders seemed to relax. "Goodness, we could use a touch like yours," he said after he'd done a quick exam. "The work on that hip is masterful. A break like that rarely heals so well. Detective, I think you will have to thank your wife for cutting your recovery time into a fraction of the norm."

"I'm just highly motivated," Korra said, putting the water back into the bowl on the table. "And I did have some spirit water on me."

"And how are you holding up, Avatar?"

She gave the healer a tight smile. "Fine, thank you."

"You'll let me know if you need anything? This can't be easy, what with—"

"I'm fine," she said again.

The healer left shortly after that.

"Korra, what aren't you telling me?"

He saw the mask slip for just a minute, showing all her strain and exhaustion and—and was that fear? Mako struggled to sit up and see his whole body.

"What's wrong. I'm not—"

Strong, firm hands forced him to lie back down. Korra's hands. Her face was stony in the way it always got when she was not to be argued with.

"You are fine," she said. "Or you're going to be. The skin is almost completely healed, your bones are knitting together well. You're going to perfectly fine."

"Then what—"

Korra shook her head. "It's nothing to do with you. We can talk about it later, like we always do."

Mako didn't have the strength to press her.

As the days went on, he began to measure how well he was doing by how often Korra was there when he woke. The drugs kept him in a haze. Sometimes he would remember that there was something that he should know, but never what it was.

Two and a half weeks from the accident, he finally managed to walk around with the aid of a cane. The healers told Korra he could go home. It was an exception, but she was a healer, so they felt comfortable leaving him in their care. They made it home late that night. Ignoring his protests, Korra had let Tenzin know that for the next week or so, she was not to be bothered unless the world was in danger of ending.

"You're the Avatar," he said.

"And I'm due for a vacation. This is as good a time as any to take it." When he still grumbled, she said, "Hey, I have the luxury of letting you be the most important thing right now. Take advantage of it. Might now happen again for a long time."

That night, he slept in his own bed for the first time in what felt like an age. They had to rearrange things. His right side, the side where Korra usually slept, was still sore and aching. Even though he said it wouldn't hurt, she insisted on sleeping on his left side. It would be several more healing sessions before he was back to normal.

It was the first night since the accident that he fell asleep without needing any painkillers. At first his dreams were vague. Swirls of smoke and fire that had the potential to morph into nightmares. They did not however. They gave way to Korra, standing over him, begging him to stay with her. Words he had missed melded with the ones he remembers.

"Stay with me. Mako, don't you dare leave me." Those blue eyes, boring into his, tethering him as she said, "You are not dying on me." In the dream, colors exploded as she leaned down, her hair brushing against his hot cheek as she whispered, "You're going to be a father." In the dream, he saw the words become a rope, tying him as tightly as those blue eyes. The rope yanked him up and up, into darkness.

He woke gasping her name.

It was dawn.

* * *

><p><strong>Two, possibly three parter, depending on how long I decide to make Korra's POV.<strong>


	2. Prelude: Korra

When Korra started to suspect that she was pregnant, her first reaction was not happiness. Not this time.

No. As she began to mentally check symptoms off, Korra had been terrified.

Terrified of being wrong.

A healer could confirm things, but Korra didn't want to face sympathy of a stranger. She wanted to see the one person that she trusted to tell her yes or no for sure.

Katara. The same woman who warned her that getting pregnant might not be an option after the poisoning.

At the time, Korra hadn't really cared. She was in the South Pole, Mako was just words on a page, and there were bigger things for her to focus on than whether or not she might someday have biological children. Like, if she would ever be able to walk or go back into the Avatar state.

Then she'd gone back to Republic City and picked things back up with Mako. As the months added up, Korra found herself wondering what their children might look like. Would they have his eyes? Her skin tone? His dark hair? Or maybe they'd have the same glossy, dark brown that adorned her head. She especially found herself straying to this train of thought while they were at the air temple, when she could watch Mako interacting with the airbender kids.

One day, he was entertaining little Rohan with a couple of firebender tricks and Rohan was trying to imitate him, even though he was an airbender. Korra had been giggling at the two of them, when the thought hit her that she might someday watch him teach firebending to their son or daughter. That thought was quickly followed by Katara's words.

Korra stopped laughing then.

Mako was too absorbed at the time to notice how quiet she got. Thankfully, she had plenty of time to pull herself together, but she spent weeks afterward eaten up with guilt. Should she tell Mako now? Or was it too early? Korra wracked her brain for casual ways to bring up the subject of kids, but none of them seemed right. She didn't want to scare him off, but at the same time, she loved him too much to ask him to stay with someone who wouldn't be able to give him children if that was important to him. Wouldn't it be better to tell him, rather than wait until it would hurt both of them irreparably?

In the end, all her qualms about tact and timing were pointless because Mako had no such reservations. It came up at that year's Glacier Spirits Festival. They were standing in line to get a new picture. A family was ahead of them in line.

Mako smiled and gestured to the family. "We'll have to do that when we have our own kids."

The dad picked up the littlest girl, who was acting a bit grumpy, tossing her in the air until there was a big grin on her face. It took Mako a moment to notice that Korra hadn't responded.

"Sorry, I—" Mako blushed, rubbing the back of his neck and ducking his head. He did a quick double-take, focusing on Korra as she struggled to cover all the emotions that had just flashed across her face. "Korra? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Korra said. "I just, um, don't feel all that great. Do you think we could do this tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." He put an arm around her shoulders and they headed back in the direction of her parent's house. They were both quiet the whole way back. Mako was still bright red. "Do you, want me to get Katara or something?" he asked when they got back to her room.

"No, I'll be good," she said. Korra couldn't look at Mako or she was afraid she might start crying. Instead, she focused on the door handle as she pushed her door open.

Mako's hand closed around hers. "Korra, I'm sorry if I freaked you out with the kids comment earlier. I should have just dumped that on you, it's just—well, I've been thinking about the future a lot lately. Specifically, our future and…" He paused, scanning her face. "Korra, if you don't want kids that's okay. You can tell me."

Korra caught her breath, holding it until the urge to cry lessened a little. "It's not that," she whispered.

"Okay," Mako said. "Then what is it?"

"I don't know if I can," Korra said, ninety-five percent sure that she'd have to say it again louder. The silence that followed stretched and stretched, but Korra didn't have the courage to say the words again.

"You don't know if you can…You mean you don't think you can have kids?" Mako pulled her away from the door, resting both hands on her shoulders, his fingers digging in just a little. "Because you're the Avatar?"

"No. Because of the poison—it m-might have—" Korra's voice broke. This was the first time she'd told anyone. She hadn't even told Asami and they'd joked multiple times about all the bad habits her and Mako's kid might have. "I'm so sorry, Mako," she said, bursting into tears.

Mako looked absolutely shocked for about three seconds, and then he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. The rough wool of his coat felt cold against her cheek. Soon it was wet with tears too. At some point, Mako opened the door and guided Korra inside, shutting the world away.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry."

When Mako pulled away from her, Korra stared at the ground. Gently, he brushed away the little strands of hair that stuck to her cheeks.

"Korra, what are you apologizing for?" he asked.

Korra felt so small. "Because you want kids and I can't…" Her voice choked, but she managed to keep from crying again.

His gloves were rough, but warm as he cupped her face, bringing her eyes up to him. Korra tried to focus on the wall behind him. Spirits, this was embarrassing.

"It's not your fault," Mako said. "You have nothing to apologize for." He leaned down to brush his lips against hers. It was quick kiss. Mako let Korra burrow into him, pressing his cheek to her temple. "We'll figure it out, Kor," he whispered. "As long as we're together, that's what matters."

Of course, that hadn't made things any easier when they finally did get married and decided to start trying for a family. When Korra had asked Katara her thoughts, the older waterbender had been cautiously optimistic. The metal had all been bent out of Korra's body and she couldn't find anything off when she examined Korra.

But a year passed and then two.

She knew that it wasn't her fault. She knew that it wasn't something she had control over. Korra hadn't chosen being the Avatar. Nor had she chosen getting kidnapped and poisoned by the Red Lotus. Knowing that was one thing, convincing herself it was true was a completely different story.

The worst thing was that the stress of being the Avatar had caused her cycle to be late more than once. Each time, they had waited, counting the days, only to be let down a week or two later when her body finally got back on track. Though her husband didn't show his disappointment, the fact that Mako kept track almost as closely as she did spoke volumes.

The worst time was when she missed two cycles in a row. She'd gone to a healer, Korra's experience as a healer was a bit lacking when it came to pregnancies, for confirmation. Gently, the healer informed that she was wrong.

That night, she'd stayed out so late that Mako finally came looking for her.

"Hey," he said, as he sat next to her under their tree. It wasn't the exact same spot that they'd spent the night under—that spot had a view of her statue, which she hated—but it was the same tree. They were completely alone.

Korra didn't even have the energy to cry at that point, she just hugged her knees and kept staring straight ahead. "Mako…"

"I know," he said. Mako leaned back, the fabric of his shirt scritch-scratching as it rubbed against the tree. He took one of Korra's hands. "It'll be okay, Korra."

"'It'll be okay'?" she spat. Korra ripped herself away from him, surging to her feet. She rounded on him, glaring down. "How? How do we make this okay, Mako?"

"I'm just saying it's not a big deal."

"It's a big deal to me," she shouted. "Maybe you can go about things as if are fine and dandy, but I can't. I can't keep acting like this doesn't hurt."

"This hurts me too," he said.

"Really? Then stop acting so damn stoic!"

"What do you want me to do, Korra?" Mako didn't sound angry, he just tired and sad, which was so much worse. "Do you want me to yell? To blame you? Because both would be wrong and unfair to you. It isn't your fault." He stood, reaching for her. Korra hugged herself and backed away.

"Then why does it feel like it is?"

Mako reached for her again. This time she didn't shy from him.

"I want this," she said quietly, resting her forehead on his shoulder. "I want this so badly sometimes that it feels like I'm in pain."

"I know." He ran his hands up and down her arms. "I know."

"What are we going to do, Mako?" she asked.

Mako slid his arms around her waist, closing the gap between their bodies. "We wait," he said. "We hope. I've heard of couples that had to wait longer. And—" Mako stopped, biting his lip as he studied Korra's face. "And there are other options."

"Like?"

His ribs pressed against hers as he breathed in for a slow count. "What would you think about adopting?" he asked, hesitating between each word.

"Adopting?" Korra felt like someone just rung a gong next to her ear while she was meditating.

"There are lots of kids out there who need homes," Mako said. "Kids like Bolin and me." Her husband blushed and looked away from her. She felt the tension radiating from every line of his body. He was so adorably nervous that Korra wanted to kiss him. "I know it wouldn't be the same…" he trailed off, meeting Korra's eyes.

Sometimes Korra forgot how much his past had shaped him. How much it still plagued him at times. Looking at him now, Korra didn't feel like she was seeing a grown man. She saw a frightened eight-year-old who had nowhere to go and no home to call his own. How different would Mako's life have been if there had been someone to take them off the streets? It made perfect sense that he would think about something like adoption. It made perfect that he would _want_ to adopt. Of course, they couldn't help every child who needed a home, but they could help someone. They could make a difference in one person's life. And if there was one thing being the Avatar had taught her, it was how much of a difference just one person (or maybe even a few people, why stop with one?) could make.

Korra loved the idea, but before she could say anything, the sky above them thundered and lightning cracked across the sky, causing both of them to jump. Dark clouds had blotted out the stars.

"We'd better get home," Mako said.

Taking her hand again, he headed towards their apartment, his pace brisk. No he was the one avoiding her gaze.

Thunder rumbled several more times, sounding more ominous the closer they got to home. Korra stayed silent the whole walk home, her mind turning Mako's words over and over in her head. Maybe he was right, maybe there was still time. That was the thing about hope, it was hard to extinguish.

And maybe it didn't matter.

A few blocks from their apartment, the rain started, coming on them as suddenly as if someone had upended a bucket of water above them. Laughing up at the sky, Korra tugged at Mako's hand and started running.

They stumbled into the apartment, soaked to the skin. As soon as they got inside, Korra kicked off her boots, waterbending the water out of them so they wouldn't smell in the morning. She did the same with Mako's when he handed them to her.

"Care to do the rest of me?" he asked, holding his arms out.

"Yes," Korra said, a wicked grin on her face.

Mako rolled his eyes. "That is not what I meant."

Korra grabbed a fistful of his soggy jacket and kissed him. "But my way is so much more fun."

Later, when they were lying tangled in the sheets, their hair still damp with rain water, Korra finally answered his question.

"You're right. We should adopt," she said, "regardless…regardless of whether I can have kids or not." Those words hurt, like someone was physically cutting at her soul. She hated how broken the idea made her feel. Logically, she knew that there were many, many women who couldn't have children. And if—if she was one of them, she would make peace with that. Still, to want something so badly and have your own self be the reason you couldn't have it? _One day_, she thought, _maybe one day I'll be okay with this_. One day, maybe she wouldn't care. Today though, it made her ache inside.

Mako propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at her. "You're sure?" he said. "You're not just agreeing because of what happened to me and Bolin?"

Korra smiled. "If it weren't for you, I would never have thought it." Korra placed her hand on his cheek, smoothing her thumb over the ridge of his cheekbone. "If I can give even one child the chance that you didn't have, I'd do it without thinking." She grasped his hand, bringing his arm around her as he settled down again. "No matter how we get them, they'd still be our kids."

"I love you," he said.

"Yes, I know," she said, tilting her face up to kiss him. Sighing, she laid her head back against his chest, the comforting thump-thump of his heartbeat in her ear. "I can't think of a better way to start our family and the rest—we'll just take the rest as it comes."

Mako's laugh reverberated through both of their bodies. "Isn't that how we take everything?"

They hadn't got around to visiting any of the orphanages in Republic City yet.

Just a week after that conversation a rebellion had broken out in the Earth Nation. Korra had spent the past three months going back and forth between the Earth Nation and Republic City, trying to help smooth things over. She and Mako had decided to tackle the adoption issue when everything was calmer. They were lucky to get a few hours every now and then to themselves. It would be fair to bring a kid into a new family when they were barely there.

So, of course, that was when she finally got pregnant.

She barely noted the first time she missed her cycle. With everything going on, of course that was going to happen. The nausea she also chocked up to stress—and the fact that she actually did come down with the flu (that had been a whole bucket of fun). When her breasts started feeling a little sore, she just assumed that it meant her cycle was back on track, they sometimes did that right before she started.

But nothing happened.

When she realized she'd missed two cycles and that she was gaining weight, despite that fact that neither her diet nor exercise had changed, Korra finally started to consider the fact that maybe—just maybe—this time it might be true.

Still, she dreaded the idea of going to the healer. Korra couldn't stand the idea of another sympathetic, but detached waterbender telling her that no, she was not pregnant. She couldn't. She just couldn't. Korra wanted Katara. She knew Katara would understand. If she was wrong—and she was still convinced that she probably was—Katara would grieve with her.

Mako hadn't said a word to her, making Korra almost certain that he hadn't noticed yet or he had chocked it up to stress like she had. There would be no need to tell him if she was wrong. She told Mako that she had to head down to the South Pole for a week (to give herself time to accept what she thought was inevitable). Thankfully, things in the Earth Nation had calmed down by that point, so she didn't have to feel bad about taking that time off. Convincing her husband to stay behind had proved the harder task, but she'd managed it somehow.

It took two days for her to work up the courage to go see Katara.

Katara's grave demeanor prompted Korra to start from the beginning, telling her mentor about every time she'd thought she was pregnant and all the disappointment she'd experienced and finally listing all of the symptoms that she was experiencing this time.

The older woman hadn't even blinked as Korra looked down and asked if maybe this time she was pregnant. She put her hand on Korra's stomach and closed her eyes.

And then Katara smiled.

"R-Really?" Korra said.

"Oh yes. About six weeks, I'd say," Katara replied. "Nice and healthy too. Nothing at all for you to worry about. Unless, of course, you were hoping for a boy first."

"It—" Korra caught her breath. "It's a girl?"

Katara nodded, her eyes twinkling like the sea on a clear day.

Korra's hands flew to her stomach. To have gone from "maybe" to having a daughter in the matter of a few seconds—it made her mind spin.

Korra listened with half an ear as Katara spoke, giving her suggestions, warning her about some of the things she might experience. Her brain was still trying to get around the fact that, yes, she was pregnant.

It didn't sink in until she got back to her parent's house, in the room that would always be hers. The only Tthing that had changed from when she was a teen was the bed. they'd switched it out for a bigger one—Mako took up a lot of room after all.

Korra sat on that bed, her hand on her stomach, feeling the energy inside of her as Katara had shown her—she couldn't tell much, just that it was there. For Korra, that was more than enough.

"I'm a mom," she whispered. A funny little laugh escaped her lips as it finally sank in. Korra found herself crying. With joy. With relief. At the absurdity of it all. She wished Mako was there, he would probably be laughing right along with her.

Mako.

There was no way she could wait the week out. She wanted to be home yesterday. Throwing on her parka, Korra grabbed the bag of clothes she'd brought and flew down the hall. Her parents looked up, startled as she ran into the room and announced she was going home. Giving both of them an exuberant hug, Korra continued towards the door.

"Is everything okay, Korra?" her mother asked, following close behind. "I thought you were staying for another few days."

"Can't, Mom," Korra called over her shoulder. "I'm pregnant! I have to tell Mako." It slipped out before she could stop herself. Korra froze, turning to her mother with a sheepish grin.

Senna gasped, her hands flying to her mouth before she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"Go," Senna said.

"Maybe I should—"

"Your father can wait," Senna said. "Mako shouldn't have to. Radio us if you can't come back down soon."

The gleeful smile on Senna's face made Korra question whether her mother would be able to keep it a secret for long, but she knew her dad would understand. So Korra gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and sprinted out the door.

* * *

><p><strong>I wrote this weeks and weeks ago at the beginning of Book 4. Back when everyone was freaking out about whether or not Korra would be able to get pregnant. I found the idea intriguing. There's no doubt in my mind that Korra would want kids. And knowing something like this, I think it would tear her up inside. As I have her say, I don't think she'd consider adoption on her own. She'd probably be too busy getting caught up in the fact that it was her own body that was the obstacle. <strong>

**I hope that I communicated clearly (but just in case I didn't), the ability to have children in no way affects Korra's strength or worth as a character. However, for someone who is going through something like this, what you know and what you feel don't always line up and that's what I tried to portray here.**

**As for my own opinion on all that hype over the poisoning, I don't think it would be a serious obstacle for Korra. From the bit of research that I did, I found that mercury was mostly a threat to fertility while it was in your system. And since Korra got all the poison out (if the poison was in fact mercury), I think she'd be fine.**

**I'm posting this with this story because it was something I originally wrote specifically to go with this one (Korra's POV is going te be two parts). I might stick this in A Hundred Ways as well, because it fits in and affects many of the stories in that headcanon. We'll see.**


	3. Korra

When Korra woke up to Mako's wide eyes, she knew two things for certain.

One: He knew. He had remembered the words she'd whispered desperately in his ear because she couldn't bear the thought of him dying without her saying anything.

Two: She was going to be sick.

Neither of these things surprised her as she leapt out of bed and made for the bathroom.

That middle of the night snack had been a bad idea. She'd known she would probably regret it when she ate it, but she'd been so hungry. A state that was feeling rather constant right now.

The nausea, at least, she knew would fade by noon if today was a lucky day.

As she leaned over the toilet, she was vaguely aware of the shuffle-tap that was Mako walking with his cane. Hopefully, he wouldn't need it after today's healing sessions. He'd still be slow as hell for the next couple of days, but at least he'd feel more himself.

He hated depending on other people as much as she did.

His cane clattered to the floor as he knelt next to her with a groan. There was an inward wince, part of her hated that he was in pain, but she couldn't help it that her husband had not stayed in bed like he needed to.

Feeling useless was another thing they shared a hatred of.

His fingers were cool as they stroked across her neck, pulling her hair away from her face. She hoped there was no vomit in it. So far, that had only happened once and she'd done her best to prevent it since then.

Korra spat, her stomach had nothing else to offer to the porcelain god. Please, she prayed, no dry heaves. Let it be over. Spirits, this was embarrassing.

Resting her forehead against her forearm, Korra took careful, slow breaths. Waiting for her stomach decide that it was done for now. Whether breakfast stayed down would be another matter, but usually she only threw up once per day. Usually.

Pema told her she was lucky, but Korra still thought that was one time per day too many.

Well, if she was wrong about Mako knowing five minutes ago, he for sure knew by now. He wasn't an idiot. Between the hovering healers—and they had hovered over her as much as him—and this little incident, he would have done the math.

Korra just hadn't planned to have this conversation on their bathroom floor of all places.

Of course, she hadn't planned to find Bolin on her way there, heading towards the Southern Water Tribe with tense eyes and an uncharacteristically serious face. When Mako hadn't remembered her hurried confession, Korra decided that it could wait. She needed it to wait. Mako was a planner and she just couldn't take planning anything until she was done being worried about him.

The secret was out now.

"Surprise," she muttered, wiping at her mouth. And then, she flushed the toilet.

"It's true?" he asked. "You're really—"

Korra smiled. "Pregnant? Yeah—" She threw her hands up, pushing him away. "No, don't kiss me! I taste like vomit." Laughing, Korra got up and brushed her teeth.

Mako watched her with a scrutiny so intense she almost started blushing. She would have blushed, except for the big, sappy grin on her husband's face.

"C'mere," he said when she'd brushed and rinsed. Twice.

"Oh no, tile floors do not agree with this pregnant lady. Or with newly mended hips. Up you go." Before Mako could protest, she grabbed him under the arms and hoisted him to his feet.

"Korra you shouldn't..."

"I'm pregnant, not made of glass." She left the cane where it was, choosing instead to pull his arm over her shoulder in case he needed help back to the bed.

He protested the entire way, even though he barely leaned on her.

"In bed," she said. "Mornings are evil, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," he replied, pulling her down with him. "But you can't expect me to just go back to sleep."

"You, sir, are welcome to stay awake, but I am going back to sleep." She gave a large, exaggerated yawn, then winked at him. "Unless, of course, you wanted to persuade me otherwise."

Mako shook his head at her, eyes twinkling. "How long have you known?"

Korra sighed. This was the tricky part. She curled up against his good side, tucking her head under his chin. "I suspected when I went to the South Pole."

She met his eyes when he pulls away to look at her.

"Your didn't really go to see your parents, did you?" he asked. "You went to see Katara."

Korra nodded. "Are you mad?"

"No," he said, cupping her face in his hand and pulling her in for a kiss. "I'm too happy to be mad." He snuggled back under the covers with her, watching with those adoring amber eyes. "So, how far..."

"Nine weeks according to Katara's calculations."

"You're amazing," he said. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Mako smiled. "Always."

"Always," she whispered.

He kissed her again, less softly this time, hands sliding to her waist. He pulled her close. She let him keep kissing her for a little bit. Eventually, to her extreme disappointment, she pushed him away.

"Later," she said. She poked his bad hip. "I still need to work on that some more. Maybe tonight."

"Okay," he said. She could hear in in his voice, the tightness.

"Hold on," she said. When she came back, she had a glass of water and two white pills.

"Korra, I don't want..."

"It's not as strong as what we had you on at the hospital. That should be all out of your system by now," she said, handing them to him. Crossing her arms, she glowered down at him until he took the pain medication. "That'll just help you get through the day. Maybe let you get a few more hours of sleep." She pouted out her lower lip, daring him to challenge her.

Mako sighed. He would probably be fine with getting up now. He was the morning person in this equation. Korra on the other hand wanted to sleep until noon, though she'd probably be hungry again in a couple of hours, so that wasn't likely.

Setting the water on the bedside table, Korra climbed back into bed. Mako pulled her close, curving around her, back to front. A little nervously, Korra pulled his arms around her waist, guiding his hands to the as yet indiscernible place where their child had taken up residence.

He pressed a kiss behind her ear, whispering, "Wow."

Yeah, Korra thought. Wow was right.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's all she wrote folks. If you want to see more of this, I suggest you go check out A Hundred Ways to Live and Love. This fits with most of that headcanon (not counting the AU and the spec fic). There's several drabbles involving this pregnancy. <strong>

**I just went through and edited the first two chapters to fit with the fact that there is a spirit portal in RC now, no major changes, but I think that's an easy enough change to make, so I did it.**


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